Food and Drink

05/29/2013

Rob and I were back to Boston this weekend. We spent a rainy and cold (49 degrees, yikes!) day having the just the best time walking around the city, supporting the runners finishing the race, celebrating our birthdays and trying (more on that in a bit) to see some of the "To Boston With Love" flags installed at the Museum of Fine Arts. We started with lunch at Jasper White's Summer Shack for lunch... I had crab legs and they were amazing. Rob had a creole dish that I didn't pay much attention to because I was elbow deep in delicious crab. He did say that he loved his as well. We also shared some strawberry shortcake and lots of laughs over lunch.

We then walked to Boylston Street to see the amazingly moving tributes to the victims of the marathon bombings. That day, runners had finished the race for those who couldn't despite the rain and chill. The memorial as well as the runners are such a testament to the spirit of the city and the strength of community. It was so powerful to see not only the sneakers left behind, but also the small messages and poems left from people around the world. It's so difficult to be at that spot and imagine what occurred there just a few short weeks ago. But the words of comfort, the tokens and momentos that fill that space (even small pieces of chimes which fill the air with the sweetest notes) make those spots a fitting tribute to the resilience of the spirit of all who were touched by that day. It is so moving and truly indescribable. If you have a chance to be near the city, do go.

We walked next up to the Museum of Fine Arts hoping to experience the flag installation. The line was around the block as it was free admission into the museum and many had come to see what I've heard is an absolutely powerful and beautiful show of support and love. There are some lovely photos of the flags here, if you haven't seen them. After waiting in line for a while, it was clear to us that we really wouldn't be able to make it into the museum, really take in the exhibit and make it home to attend to our sweet girl, so we reluctantly left with plans to return in the coming days. I can't wait.

On our way back to the T Station, we walked through The Public Garden. Tens of thousands of flags representing every fallen service person from Massachusetts from the Civil War to today were placed (by volunteers and members of the military) in the park. The flags and the sacrifice that each represents are completely overwhelming and so very beautiful.

This truly was such an emotional trip into our favorite city. It was so truly special and lovely taking time to head back to Boston a city we have oh so much love for. I hope your Memorial Day was special and spent with those you love!

02/15/2013

(this is of course, not a quilt finished by me but one I am obsessing over, of course)

After a two day work week, I have today off for the start of an abbreviated February vacation (it was three days even before the snow). Lest you be jealous, like someone in our house whose name rhymes with "sob", we will now be making up days until the end of June as a result of this last snow storm and Hurricane Sandy. Sigh. I am extremely protective of my summer vacation days and "snow days" make me weepy. I'd much rather have sunny days off than snowy ones. My students disagree, until June comes!

Anyway, today I contemplated finishing the quilting on my Strips and Bricks quilt, but got caught up in Where'd You Go Bernadette (so, so good if you're looking for an interesting read). The straight line quilting (lots of it) can be a little boring, but I'm finding tackling it in small doses is best. In the meantime, I'm dreaming of that beauty of a quilt above. I'm quite sure I swore off half square triangles rather recently, but I've successfully blocked out the horror. I have a few other projects that need tending to before I can start on that once, which is probably a good thing considering I own very, very little black fabric. How is that possible I have so much fabric and so little black? Hmm... must be rectified in time, I imagine.

I had a hair appointment and went very blonde (all the better to mask some let's call them white hairs which have begun make their presence known ahem). I also picked up some macarons from this little shop, if you're in CT as a belated Valentine's Day gift for my guy. They are delicious, and know because I sampled a raspberry one right after he opened them. That's love. Happy weekend everyone, I hope you are looking forward to many sweet things in the days to come!

10/29/2012

Well, here we are at the end of October and facing yet another storm around these parts. No school for me today, and likely tomorrow, which feels strange, as did this morning's very, very red sky. Lots of peeking out of windows, some Downton Abbey, some sewing and loads of watching the last of the leaves come down in the winds before the truly big gusts come. We're old pros at all of this now... the generator is at the ready, we will have water (warm water at that!) and we have the knowledge that we will be just fine in the end. In the meantime, it is comfort food and making sure all is right in our little world. We made this cake with this frosting and tried to mimic Alicia's beautiful cake decorating, because even if the lights go out, there will be cake... comfort indeed! I hope you are having a very lovley Monday, wherever you are, send good thoughts North East if you can. Happy Monday all!

08/21/2012

Lots of sweet things happening (and being eaten) around here as of late... that amazing cupcake is a German Chocolate lovely from our local cupcakery Ganache. That one there rightfully belonged to Rob as I had eaten mine for breakfast... I wanted it. Badly. Later it fell on the floor. Painful. That scream of "NOOOO" you might have heard from wherever you are was me.

And this sweet lady is a champion snuggler. She certainly knows how to get comfortable. I'm going to miss this terribly in the coming days...

I was given this beautiful rose bush for my birthday... it is a Jubilee Celebration rose from David Austen. Pretty fitting for this year for sure. We bought it for its amazingly sweet smell. I love these roses that almost continually bloom. So pretty.

Speaking of sweet and outside, this Black Eyed Susan (Rob: there are black eyed susans growing wild in the planter out back Me: You mean the ones you planted in the fall?) is a little strange... looks like twins.

And this sweet lady named "Petina" (I die of the cuteness) was hanging out at the farmer's market on Sunday. It was a bit overwhelming for this poor sweet one, she hung very close to her mother, made the sweetest noises ever and opened her eyes as widely as alpacaly possible.

We're enjoying and savoring these sweet days of summer... hope you are doing the same!

01/09/2011

Rob is away for work. It is January in New England. Yesterday we had the last of two different storms in twenty-four hours roll through. This morning's (second solo) snow removal was accompanied by an angry North wind. I couldn't help thinking, as I cleared the driveway and dodged that mean wind, that it would be impossibly wonderful to curl up in the house in front of the fire and forget the snow, forget the need to leave the house at all... with a piece of Rob's cherry pie. Comfort. The cherry pie Rob made for New Year's day at my parents' is long gone, but apparently not forgotten... feast your eyes...

... that filling goodness was piping hot when the picture was snapped. If I didn't need my fingers for work, I would have gladly suffered the third degree burns to taste it when it surfaced from the oven. So good. What's not good... the weather. This is the punishing time of year when the wind blown snow that one is currently shoveling takes aim at the few inches of exposed skin and just pummels... that brings out the complainer in me. I look to creature comforts... oh pie, how we miss you... to get through. Rob's Cherry Pie was a recipe from our favorite Cook's Illustrated. In the meantime, we wait patiently for our pie maker to make his way home, watch episodes of Pushing Daisies on Netflix (watching shows in part about pies might be torture, but so is shoveling so it's in season) while taking pictures of the most beautiful snow... from inside the house...

... Kylie (who has been glued to my side since she saw Rob leave the house - suitcase in hand) and I wish you a very comfort filled weekend, and a lovely start to the week! I'm off to sew some, and rest my aching back... I'm lift-from-the-knees challenged.

10/11/2010

This weekend the weather changed just a bit and we had our first frost... a clear sign that soup needed to be made. Around here, soup is synonymous with chowder, pronounced "chowdah" if you really want to get it right. We journeyed off to our local Whole Foods because we absolutely love the fish they stock and were shocked to find the check-out lady prefers Manhattan Clam Chowder... "I'm from New Jersey" she explained, ahhh, we understood perfectly.

We used (of course we did) a recipe from Cook's Illustrated, which called for 7 lbs of clams, a bit of cream, flour, parsley and thyme. This wasn't one of those really involved recipes, so it cooked up really quickly, a lovely recipe indeed. The broth was absolutely amazing and though Rob will probably add another tablespoon of flour to make it thicker next time we make this (soon, I tell you)... the chowder was so authentically New England and oh, so delicious. There are reasons these photos are so close, I was tempted to face plant into this gorgeous bowl, the smells were fantastic. A little sourdough bread, some oyster crackers and dinner was a welcome sight for this bronchitis sufferer (such is the season). Anyway, feast your eyes if you're not in the vicinity to feast with us... Happy Monday.

09/06/2010

We ventured off to Wright's Farm, a little orchard right down the road from us today (if you're lucky enough to live near this lovely little corner of New England, visit! The dried flowers are something to see...) picking the beginnings of our apple harvest. A bit early indeed. As were the pumpkins and gourds that we contemplated buying... soon. Instead we're making tomato soup for dinner and possibly to can... and dreaming of the apple sauce, pie filling, and jam that will be made to keep us through the long winter. I've been thinking of doing a little post on our methods while canning. I love your questions, thanks for asking how we go about things! Can't wait to share. The weather has taken a bit of a turn, just a bit... bright blue skies and just the hint of fall... I love this time of year.

07/03/2010

Julia Child once said, "Some people like to paint pictures, or do gardening, or build a boat in the basement. Other people get a tremendous pleasure out of the kitchen, because cooking is just as creative and imaginative an activity as drawing, or wood carving, or music." My sweet and wonderful guy made croissants today... they were simply perfection. Light, warm from the oven, buttery layers that were melt in your mouth delicious. Rob spent the morning perfecting and working through the stages of the dough, getting it just right. This incredibly talented man I tell you, how lucky am I... he loves our garden, can build just about anything in the basement and incorporates as much love into the foods he creates for our little family as he does butter. Lucky I tell you... truly loved and lucky. I wish you a happy and love filled (if not croissant filled) weekend.

02/14/2010

...Can I tell you I made biscuits? From scratch... biscuits... and a big mess...

Well hello there strangers... I must sincerely apologize for my absolute abandonment of this blog over the past few weeks. I have been under-the-weather in an annoying sinus, sleep for hours kind of way and just about the only thing I've really wanted to do is cook. And prowl for fabric, but I'll keep that for another post.

So let's catch up... the cooking. Here at our house Rob cooks most of our meals, I acquire the others. I used to cook, I vaguely remember actually liking to cook but when you have a chef as inspired (or motivated) as my guy, you don't argue... you keep quiet and do the dishes. Rob's work schedule has picked up in recent weeks and I've been feeling the need to take some of the cooking load. I've been inspired by some of the culinary adventures here, here and here at the blogs I've come to love. First up was Ina Garten's Chicken Stew with Biscuits, really, really tasty. We added mushrooms, and I made the biggest mess the kitchen on Gehring Road has ever seen...

...seriously...but it was oh, so tasty. And an hour clean up (we are dishwasher-less) is a small price to pay for comfort food of epic proportions. I was able to bring some to my ailing Great Aunt Tootsie (how has Aunt Tootsie not made the blog yet?) who has a houseguest (my mother) and they loved this dish as much as we did. Oh, and did I tell you I made biscuits?

I also purchased Ree Drummand's The Pionner Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl and made her lasagna. The meat-sauce recipe for this is also really tasty, and I didn't take pictures of the finished product... we were eating, you understand. This lasagna was cooked on a night that Rob had an especially bad day at work, and I was oh so glad to be at the dinner helm.

Rob thinks I bought the book for the lovely pictures of cowboys... I didn't, but will be turning to this book for many other dinners in the future, the lasagna was full of flavor and easy... and I had time to clean the dishes while cooking... and yes, it does seem that Ree is an accidental country girl after my own heart.

It feels very good to return to this space... I feel a bit recharged, and as vacation is upon us, I'm hoping to extend that feeling into this week. The plan is organization, sewing, and hopefully sharing with you some of our experiences along the way. I hope you have some time this weekend, this week or very soon to do the things you love the most. Happy Valentine's Day to all... and especially my partner in crime dishwashing all things who makes it feel like Valentine's everyday - even the nasty bad ones.

01/20/2010

I loved this dinner... roasted tomato, mushroom, spinach and poached egg on toast. Recipe adapted from the latest edition of Real Simple. This fantastic dinner has been a bright spot in an "every time I leave the house bad things happen" and an "am I really going to do this for thirty more years?" kind of week. Here's to bright spots: perfectly poached eggs and this smile.